1993 Olds, Battery dies while driving, but alternator works???

dondoes99 · 08-12-2006, 08:25 PM

I have no idea what the issue is with this vehicle. I checked all of the fuses to see if there was a parasitic drain, but nothing was found. The alternator was checked twice by the people at Murray's. Does anyone have an idea about what the issue may be? Any help would be great.

Alibi · 08-12-2006, 08:32 PM

Is the car stalling? If the battery dies while driving, then that wouldn't cause the car to stall as power generated by the alternator would keep the electonics running. Are there any SES light codes?

Assuming the battery is good and the alternator are good (as well as all the wires to and from), then you need to start looking into other issues.

Welcome to AF

dondoes99 · 08-12-2006, 09:26 PM

Yes, the car stalls after about two hours of running or so. So obviously, the alternator either isn't keeping up with the power loss, or it isn't keeping the charge on the battery.

Could you inform me on what SES lights are?

I have considered the possibility that the wires are to blame, but am yet to go through them all. Would that involve a more comprehensive understanding of car electronics?

Are you aware of any other issues it might be?

Thank you for the input! Thanks for the welcome!

Alibi · 08-12-2006, 09:57 PM

http://www.lesabret.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1201

SES=Service Engine Soon

First, you can pull both the battery and alternator and have them tested at an autozone or similar store for free. If they test good, then your charging system isn't at fault (assuming the wires to and from the devices are good).

After the car stalls, does it start right up or do you have to wait 10-20 minutes? If yes, then your issue is heat-related. Odds are, either the coils or crank sensor have failed (neither will throw the SES light on).

dondoes99 · 08-13-2006, 08:41 PM

Thanks

The battery and alternator are in working condition, and the visible wires that I checked appeared in good condition.

After the car stalls, it is dead. It will not even turn over. Basically, by running the car we drain the battery. It is like the alternator can not give the battery a charge, yet the alternator checked out fine. It might be the wires, but I'm not very imformed on servicing those.

Alibi · 08-13-2006, 09:53 PM

IOW, you have to jump the car every time to start it, right?

Are you sure the battery is good? How new is the battery? Have you had it tested?

Assuming the battery is definately good, then I'd say to start looking at wires: Is there corrosion on the battery terminals? Is there corrosion on the terminals to the alternator? Are all the wires correctly screwed/clicked into the alternator?

Edit: The more I think about it the more I wonder if the alternator is bad. This just seems like a case of a bad alternator. Did you go to at least two different shops for a diagnosis of the alternator? Autozone and O'Reily both test them for free...

huynh · 08-15-2006, 08:34 PM

Hi all,
I may have the same problem, so, please allow me to join in.
My 1996 Oldsmobile 98 can ran for a mile then lost power (the gauge showed 12 volts), I stopped for a minute and could crank it up, then ran for another mile then lost power again!
Autozone could not find and error code, suggested me to take the car to a shop. Master Carcare did an electrical system check and total engine check and could not find any problem. Goodyear did the same job and told me that the alternator, even just replaced, was bad. He also said he had changed an alternator 7 times for a car before it was OK.
I replaced it (and battery) again. Now, they are less than 20 miles, but the problem is still there!!! Runs for a mile, and loses power, stops for a minute and cranks up again, and again.
Any idea would be greatly appreciated.

bobss396 · 08-24-2006, 12:03 PM

Try swapping in a "known to be good" battery, just to rule it out. If I ever have a start problem with a battery that is 3 or 4 years old, I get a new one. I feel that your battery might have an internal short. If you can get the top off and look into the cells, you might find one is dry or very low on electrolyte.

Bob

huynh · 08-28-2006, 05:54 PM

Hi all,
I checked the alternator and battery again, even though they are just a few miles old since I put them. They were good.

I took the ICM out (as suggested to check by Alibi), cleaned up and brought to Autozone, but they don't test ICM. I put it back in and was going to bring to a shop. For the last few days, I did not have any problem!!!

So, it may be there was something loose and I accidentally fixed it while putting things off and on. Or, it is still there and wait to strike me someday. I do not know!

However, when cleaning the plate of the ICM, I noticed that the plate was very dirty from oil of the engine. I do not know if this was the cause (the plate got hot faster and messed up the ignition order???). I post here so that someone may learn something from it.

corning_d3 · 08-28-2006, 06:10 PM

I bet you unknowingly found a bad connection...

tri-power · 09-20-2006, 01:10 PM

If the battery and alternator are suspect of being bad, you simply remove the negative terminal from the battery while the vehicle is running. If the car stalls out, you either have a low charge on the battery or the battery is bad. If the alternator is suspect of being bad, the battery light will come on if the bulb is working. The only exception to this really is if you have installed an aftermarket sound system that is constantly using all of the available power from the alternator, causing the battery to fail to recharge. If this is the case, you should notice the lights flicker and such everytime there's a thump from the bass. In this event, you either need to install another battery in the rear to handle the extra power, or upgrade to a larger output alternator.

In the event of a parasitic drain, your battery could run low on power, but this orccurs when the vehicle isn't running.

Take note that this past winter, I had problems starting my '78 88. Because of my experience, I automatically assumed that the battery was suspect. The scenario was that the car would only start when jumped. No matter how long it ran, if you turned it off then restarted it, it wouldn't crank over. I took it to one of the local "National" parts stores and had them do the test. They claimed that the alternator was fine and that the battery was ok but with low charge. Knowing that the battery was over 4 years old, I told them to just change it. Wouldn't you know it, the car came to life. This is just to show you that the diagnostic machines aren't always accurate. I forgot to mention I had the battery on the charger overnight just prior to having it tested.

Not to plug a product, but the Optima batteries, which I have recently switched to seem to run much better than the old style batteries. Not only are the truly "maintenance free", but you can mount them any way you have to. They use an electrolyte gel instead of water, so there is no water loss or leakage. They are a bit pricey, but I have been nothing less than pleased with it. I still carry my jumper cables, but I have only needed them to start other people.

corning_d3 · 09-20-2006, 08:48 PM

Removing the cable is a bad thing on newer cars with ECM/PCM's. Removing the cable sends a high voltage spike thru all the electronics..

HotZ28 · 09-21-2006, 10:03 AM

CS-series alternator regulators, are now essentially an electronic computer chip, so always disconnect the battery before servicing and NEVER,

remove the battery cable when the engine is running. If you do this, you may destroy the regulator’s computer chip. You must really begin to think of these alternators as computers, and treat them with the respect that you might a laptop computer.

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